Development and exploration in the mountains and foothills

Since the early 20^thcentury, the economies of Canada and the US have been sustained by petroleum-based energy and products. The foothills and mountains of western Canada, and increasingly the western United States, are experiencing major oil and gas exploration and development. These activities significantly affect the future ecological health of the Y2Y region.

Oil and gas exploration and development threaten and/or degrade wilderness values and habitat for wildlife. The first major impact comes from exploring for oil and gas reserves. Seismic exploration involves the transmission of sound waves through the earth to identify geological structures that may contain pockets of oil and/or gas. Before workers can place the sound-measuring devices, routes (called seismic lines) must be cut through the forest. Many of these are blazed by bulldozers and can be up to six metres wide. Seismic lines in many parts of the Y2Y region have carved what were once vast, intact expanses of forest into smaller, fragmented patches.

Once a company decides there is sufficient likelihood of finding oil and/or gas, it drills an exploratory well. Drilling rigs are large, complex pieces of equipment delivered to the site by several flatbed trucks. Road access is necessary for the equipment to reach the well site, making the oil and gas industry one of the biggest road builders in the Y2Y landscape. If the well site is in a forested landscape, many trees are cut down to prepare the site. (For more information, visit the Natural Resources Defense Council - America's Gas Tank.) Then, if the well produces enough oil or gas to support commercial production, the product must be transported to a processing facility, and often this requires construction of a pipeline.

Over time, roads and pipelines, along with the network of well sites, carve up the landscape even further. This leads to wildlife-vehicle collisions, reduces the amount of habitat available for birds and wildlife, and alters animals’ behaviour in significant ways. Many wary species, such as bears and caribou, are known to travel more than a kilometer to avoid a road, or they cross only at night when traffic is absent. And because roads are generally built through high-quality habitat, parallel to rivers and streams, they often reduce animals’ available habitat and food. In a world where the amount of suitable wildlife habitat is already limited due to human development, this can have a serious cumulative impact. In addition, roads can endanger wildlife in other, unexpected ways. For instance, over the millennia mountain caribou adapted to predation by carnivores by feeding in dense, interior forests.  Roads and seismic lines make it easier for predator species, such as wolves, to move deeper into forests and prey on mountain caribou, an already vulnerable species.

Here are some ways the impacts of oil and gas development can be reduced:

• Governments can require all extractive industries to plan together in order to reduce the numbers access roads. 
• Roads that are no longer used can be demolished and then returned to their original habitat. 
• Governments can require all companies to use new seismic-cutting techniques that minimize width and eliminate the long, straight routes that make it easier for predators to spot. 
• Energy conservation, practiced by individuals as well as industry, can reduce the demand for oil and gas resources.

For more information on how to mitigate the impacts of the oil and gas industry, visit the Pembina Institute, the Alberta Centre for Boreal Research, the West Coast Environmental Law Association, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.